The photosphere is the visible "surface" of the Sun (left). Sunspots are often visible "on" the photosphere. A close-up view (right) shows the granulation pattern on the photosphere. Images courtesy of SOHO/NASA/ESA and The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Oddbjorn Engvold, Jun Elin Wiik, and Luc Rouppe van der Voort - University of Oslo.